Quote Originally Posted by nickyblaze View Post
Why can't making BIS be a process with all 3 disciplines?
Because then there would be complaints that people feel forced to play something they don't want to if they want to be the best at the class they DO want to play. The free gear comes from 1-time quests and aren't infinite. This was only really an issue straight out the door of HW, but at the same time there were very few Crafters who could even make that gear at the time. Sure, the ones that could Craft the gear would have made a killing, but at the same time Combat classes would have felt stunted in their progress because the mobs were tougher than they used to be and they couldn't afford better versions of their gear.

I won't deny that their needs to be some inter-dependency between the disciplines, but at the same time I want to be able to further my own class's Progression without feeling forced to level another class to do so. I felt that way when I was Crafting 2-Stars out the gate. I HATE Gathering with a passion, but I didn't HAVE to Gather the materials myself, I could have used sales from my Crafting to buy them. 3.1 is introducing a new way to Gather Red Scrip materials through Combat which I personally welcome as a nice change of pace from Gathering and a good potential money-maker for pure Combat classes.

Yoshi has stated that Crafted gear will never again be BIS for Combat and I agree, but it doesn't mean they won't make it 2nd BIS, and I think that's what they'll be going for come 3.2. And to answer your melding question yes, I have sat there for 10-20m doing multiple overmelds. Did I enjoy it? No, but I do it for free because I've BEEN in that situation before, and I know that no matter how frustrated I might be at the length of time it takes to meld that item, the person who has millions of gil exploding in their face is MUCH more frustrated than I am.